The term "snuff film" first originated in the early 1970?s. Also known as "white heat" and "the real thing." In 1975, the FBI investigated rumors of snuff in America. For the past 30 years, thousands of people have clai... more &raquomed that they?ve seen an actual snuff film. To this day it remains an "urban legend." Amateur Porn Star Killer follows a Ted Bundy-like serial killer, Brandon, and his next victim, Stacy, who is about to become an unwilling participant in Brandon's movie.&laquo less

Movie Reviews

If they had minus stars, I'd give it a minus rating

BritFuFan | Brighton | 12/08/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Amateur Porn Star Killer is a sorry excuse for a film.

Don't be fooled by the professional artwork or the lame exploitation title, intended to attract the emotionally subnormal and cash in on a particular subgenre of Horror cinema; a title that makes no sense and certainly doesn't really say anything about the film itself. Don't be fooled by the cheesy film-look filters applied over poorly lit and staged serial killer footage - supposedly deliberately shot in a headache inducing `amateur camcorder user' style - although why anyone would go to the trouble of documenting their crimes in such a poor fashion and then trying to fake it as film I'll never know! `Experimental' (or inept - you decide....) sound and muddy dialogue and atrocious acting / staging. If you buy this you're in for a tedious viewing experience.

The plot - if you can call it that - is simple. It's about a wannabe Ted Bundy armed with a camera, called Brandon (Shane Ryan), who brings an underage girl, named Stacey (Michiko Jimenez), back to his apartment, bores her with his shoddy camera antics, before having sex with her and beating her to death. Most of the action is deliberately poorly framed or happens off camera. It is technically without inspiration and is lacking in any redeeming quality.

Fans of this Guinea Pig style snuff-esque footage may get a kick out of it, but I have seen it done much better. This is completely uninspiring. The footage of sex acts could be real but who cares. It is pretty uninspiring stuff. The lack of any real dramatic narrative or characterisation makes it a completely unabsorbing experience. Dredging footage up of one girl to superimpose over another is a thinly veiled technique to try and liven up this turkey. Without any context being applied to the footage it means nothing.

The fact that the cast are mimicking realism and do not bother trying to speak properly or annunciate means that most of the dialogue is also uninteresting or unintelligible, frustratingly `improvisational' and commonplace, merely filling up gaps between events. The fact that the sound even goes in places is even worse. If that was deliberate, then it is bad judgement.

I am not familiar with this filmmakers work and after watching this and looking at his equally amateur website, nor do I ever want to. He revels in the controversy behind this film, but the only controversy I can see is that he has the arrogance to make a film that is unwatchable and call it entertainment and liken it to more famous and more accomplished works yet it doesn't deserve any of those comparisons. I am just amazed that it is even available on Amazon and others have voluntarily parted with their money for it!

The only thing that would have made this film interesting would be if it was real all along and was accompanied by a valid study of the perpetrator's psyche. Then it would be a criminally dirty little treasure for the disturbed types who seek out snuff or autopsy footage on the internet. But the fact that the sex is unclear or murky at best and the violence is off camera means that this film has no merit even for those deviants.

Half an hour of my life, lost forever! I only write this to warn others. I don't have an axe to grind per se; I just think it's not worth the money and it is films like this that convince outsiders that Horror is dead and the fans that love it have no intelligence. It is far from shocking and is merely 71 minutes of audio visual irritation. In fact the title is the only thing likely to shock when your mum sees it on your shelf when she comes around to visit. "

Home Movies!

Steve67 | Dallas, Texas United States | 11/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What can I say about this film but it was differnt than anything I ever seen. If your looking for that realistic film with that home movie feel this is it. Its not your typical film its more like a snuff film or what one would be. Don't expect over top film making here but a creepy realistic type home video. Its the kind of movie that makes you feel kind of bad for watcing it. Its not very long and it really has one direction and thats the torure and death of this girl. If your looking for something shocking and diffrent this is it. It has some other very strange shorts on this DVD that might peek your interest also. I have to say this one needs to be seen at least once."

So close to being a masterpiece that even though it repulses

CCF | Las Vegas, NV United States | 08/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It took roughly three hours to shoot and has one of the lowest budgets ever of any film that's been nationally distributed. But neither stops underground filmmaker Shane Ryan's "Amateur Porn Star Killer" from being one of the most disturbing and thought provoking films you will see on violence, sex and nudity.

Shot on miniDV for $45, "Amateur Porn Star Killer" is the story of a girl being preyed upon by a vicious predator. Playing on the illusion what you are watching is a real snuff film, the audience follows along as Brandon (played by Ryan) takes Stacy (Michiko Jimenez) to a hotel and proceeds to victimize her emotionally, physically and sexually, before ending her life.

Love it or hate it, you can't deny the power of Ryan's film. When PollyStaffle.com reviewed it in June 2006, it was called "mesmerizing and terrifying" and "downright painful to watch." It was also noted that the film is "so close to being a masterpiece that even though it repulses me I have to praise it." It later went on to win a Polished Apple award in the Second Annual Pollies for best use of sex/nudity because of the film's impact."

Fake hype fake movie fake everything

anthony | hollywood ,CA | 08/24/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"ok so those other reviews of this movie are fake most likey writen by the director since he does have a lot of time on his hands.. maybe trying to find a different actress to have sexual contact with on camara and sell it to idiot's!! seriously how the hell can someone like this but hate a movie like DOOM GENERATION>?? are you smoking crack!!! how does anyone say this is orignal??? Movies like this make me want to shot people who give it a 5? your not so post to like this... its so post to be distrubing? I DON"T BUY THAT there is plenty of movies out there that YOur sopost to hate the killers. that are plenty distrubing.... someone please for the love of god give the people that gave this movie a 5 and give them a copy of NOWHERE or DOOM GENERATION !!!!"

A failure at everything it attempts.

Robert P. Beveridge | Cleveland, OH | 03/30/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Amateur Porn Star Killer (Shane Ryan, 2007)

The best thing about Amateur Porn Star Killer is watching its director and "star", Shane Ryan, absolutely destroying his career. Not that you can call guest appearances on such deathless TV shows as That's So Raven (possibly the worst show on television), Arrested Development, and The O.C. a "career". But it is what it is. Or was, until Amateur Porn Star Killer, made on an estimated budget (according to IMDB) of forty-five dollars(!) and seemingly successful enough that Ryan has helmed three(!) sequels in the intervening two years. Why is this? I have no idea.

Plot: a guy (Ryan) picks up a girl (Ryan regular Michiko Jimenez) and takes her back to his hotel room. This occurs after some unrelated scenes and a couple of title cards about snuff films, so you can guess that the outcome of this tete-a-tete will not be a happy one. What you don't expect is how intensely, incredibly, awe-inspiringly boring this supposed snuff film is going to be. The opening scenes and the description give us the idea that we're dealing with a serial killer, but this isn't a slasher film; this is, in real time, everything that happens between Brandon (the killer) and Stacey (the victim). Given two actors capable of handling the material, which is actually delivered in what might have been a surprisingly effective script (co-written by Ryan and Jimenez), this would have been riveting stuff. Two-person movies, done right, are wonderful--Closetland, My Dinner with Andre, etc. This is not one of them. Jimenez does have some real potential, as she manages to infuse Stacey with a healthy dose of nervousness. We always get a sense that Stacey is real. (I liked Jimenez so much in this, or would have had I liked the movie, I made the mistake of watching Ryan's short The Cold Heat, also included on the disc, to see more of Jimenez.) We never get that sense about Brandon, and there's no real reason to think that Stacey would have been taken in by this guy, about whom we never get even a hint of likability. (Ironically, the movie's tagline is "but he looked like a really nice guy." oops.) With the original plot point of the movie so flawed, it can only really go downwards from there, which is exactly what it does.

Warning: while, as I said before, you can pretty much tell what's coming from the first five minutes, the remainder of this review could be considered to contain spoilers, so if you're the kind of person who's surprised by the end of a Jodi Picoult novel, stop reading now.

The movie is seventy-one minutes long. Aside from the first five minutes or so, which consist of the stuff I talked about earlier, and the final fifteen, which consist of Brandon raping and murdering Stacey (and, again, this sort of thing can be absolutely gripping; witness Flower of Flesh and Blood), there's a long conversation. This might well have worked were there any chemistry between these characters, or were they able to achieve dramatic tension between them. As I said before, I had no problem with Jimenez' character in the first regard. Stacey is entirely believable. Brandon is the problem here. As for the second part, the fact that Brandon is so hard to believe in this movie makes it kind of a moot point, no matter how good Stacey may be. Since, however, neither aspect of the bulk of the movie works, the bulk of the movie doesn't work.

I'd love to see a remake of this with actors who could pull it off. Unfortunately, given the depravity of the subject matter, the chances of that happening are slim and none, especially in a culture where the PG-13 horror movie seems to be making a resurgence in popularity. So you're stuck with the finished product, which could have been so much better than it is. Worth renting on the cheap to catch what I hope is a rising star in Jimenez, but otherwise, don't waste your time. (half)